One case which achieved major media coverage, the murder of 11-year-old Luke Batty by his father in February 2014, led to a Royal Commission into Family Violence in Victoria.
A 2013 NSW survey of 300 victims revealed that only around 50% reported the most recent incident to police, usually because of fear of revenge or further violence.
The 2016 ABS Personal Safety Survey showed that around 95% of men and 80% of women who were victims of violence from their current partners had never reported it to police.
[4] A 2016 paper reported that from 121,251 domestic violence incidents recorded over a two-year period in Victoria, more than 21% involved alcohol by either or both parties.
In the same year, the Commonwealth Government of Australia committed A$50 million to test preventative measures and practices to address domestic violence.
The program also established the Australian Domestic Violence Clearinghouse, which gathers research and publications from each state and territory of Australia and internationally.
[16][20] In 2001 the government established the National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault (NICSA) with funding of A$16.5m over four years and administered by the Office of the Status of Women.
[17] In March 2009, the Department of Social Services released an economic report entitled The Cost of Violence against Women and their Children.
[25][26] In July 2013, Natasha Stott Despoja was the founding chair of Our Watch,[27] then named Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children.
Her advocacy had considerably influence on national public attitudes, philanthropy, government initiatives and funding, support services and police and legal procedures related to domestic violence in Australia.
[34] In March 2015, the Australian Senate under the Finance and Public Administration References Committee, issued an interim report regarding domestic violence in Australia.
The recommendation of "inclusion of respectful relationships education in the national curriculum" was one that provided an opportunity to create a positive change, starting with children.
AWAVA conducted its own research into the matter and issued a number of recommendations, including the inclusion of respectful relationships in youth education.
[38][39][40] On 24 September 2015, then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a funding of another A$100 million for measures to protect victims of domestic violence.
However a 2006 publication by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported:[50]The true extent of family violence is difficult to determine due to under-reporting by victims, lack of appropriate screening by service providers, incomplete identification of Indigenous people in many data sets and problems of quality and comparability of existing data.
[51] There is no single cause for this high rate, but several probable causes or aggravating factors have been suggested by various researchers and stakeholders, including: dispossession of land and subsequent displacement of communities; childhood abuse experienced by the Stolen Generations, along with intergenerational trauma; economic disadvantage; violent family environments; poor health; inadequate housing; racism; loss of Aboriginal identity; and many others.
[52] An AIHW survey covering eight years to 2019, published in December 2021, revealed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprised 28 per cent of all hospitalisations due to family violence, despite only making up 3.3% of the total population.
[54] In February 2022, Ruston announced that an extra A$10.7 million would be allocated "to boost frontline services in the Northern Territory in response to the chronic rates of violence and to work towards our Closing the Gap commitments", in addition to the funding already committed to the National Partnership on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses.
[59][61] With the 2016–2017 budget, the ACT Government set a new precedent in Australia when it introduced an annual A$30 domestic violence levy on all households.
They include ACT police officers having (for the purpose of preventing family violence) the power to enter private premises without warrant and search and seizing firearms.
This holistic service model, including the concept of a safe room, was subsequently expanded and adapted to the conditions and resources available at other local courts throughout NSW and other parts of Australia.
Like the NSW Women's Refuge Movement the WDVCAS has struggled to secure adequate government funding throughout its existence and was put through a tender process despite opposition within the sector.
[68] In March 2015, New South Wales Premier Mike Baird announced a pilot of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS).
Indifferent of the domestic partner's criminal history, the disclosure, it would be made within two weeks from the date of the application, in person by a police officer assisted by a social worker.
The others are allowing a tenancy agreement to be terminated without replacement, as part of a DV order; and enabling defendants in domestic violence proceedings to attend rehabilitation programs more easily.
She suggested that if certain information had been shared between local organisations and Northern Territory Police that "privileges women and children's safety above any man's right to confidentiality", as exists in some other jurisdictions in Australia, it would have been clear that she was in danger.
[44] In 2003 the Tasmanian Government released Options Paper Safe at Home: A Criminal Justice Framework for Responding to Family Violence in Tasmania.
[further explanation needed][98][96][100] In October 2013, Tasmanian Police stated that the family violence incidents in Tasmania were on a decreasing trend for the past several years.
[118] The premier Daniel Andrews pledged to "overhaul our broken support system from the bottom up", quoting the statistic that in 2015, 37 Victorians had been murdered by a family member.
It was also suggested that Western Australia Police fund and appoint specialist prosecutors to deal with family violence matters in court.